Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NYC DOE and NYC ECF: Stop the Development of the PS199 Site

We are a group of concerned Lincoln Square residents strongly opposed to the DOE and ECF’s proposed demolition of the PS199 site on West 70th Street.

We believe the needs of the community can be solve with less disruption, less impact on infrastructure, less destruction of treasured property, less dissipation of the public trust through the unwarranted sale of public assets if the ECF/DOE/City focused on building new schools instead of tearing down and rebuilding existing school.

At the very least, we want the ECF/DOE to conduct a full assessment of current and future educational needs, neighborhood infrastructure requirements, neighborhood housing needs, and to openly engage the community before developing an RFP for P.S. 199, P.S. 191 or The High School for Coop Tech.

Our opposition stems from:

- the plan to build a 50-story, 500+ ft. tall residential building, the tallest mid-block building in the neighboring area, a building that would be nearly as tall as the Trump buildings on Riverside Boulevard;

- the substantial burden to our community's infrastructure, inherent and serious safety risks including extra burden on the 72nd Street subway which is already over utilized and, at rush-hour, unsafe;

- the negative impact on the quality and continuity of PS 199 instruction;